Tsunami of public opinion saves Glenview Fire Station 13

Talk - and talk, and talk - about democracy in action.

At a special meeting Monday of the Glenview Village board, board President Jim Patterson counted 53 callers who voiced their displeasure of a Feb. 2 board decision to reallocate resources out of Fire Station 13 to the village's four other stations.

The citizens, most near but not limited to neighborhoods around the station at 831 E. Lake Ave., ranged from decades-long residents to young parents, from retired firefighters to Glenbrook South student Drew Duffy, who organized Saturday's well-attended rally to "save" the station.

And they saved it.

"I would say that we have come to a consensus this evening that says keep Station 13 open," Patterson said in summary of the remotely held meeting that ran over 3 hours, 17 minutes, and included about two and a half hours of public comment.

"We've also come to a consensus, which is to incorporate the jump companies or cross-staffing at as much of the system as possible," he said, referring to the use of the same crew staffing a fire engine or ambulance depending on the situation.

Cross-staffing was an option the board had considered for Station 13 on Feb. 2, one of seven overall options before it decided on reallocation that would create an annual savings of about $1.25 million.

A key bit of rationale for the station's closure, gleaned from a study by public safety consultants Fitch & Associates, was that in 2019 Engine 13 saw service an average 36 minutes out of a day.

But as a resident of Hager Lane, on the eastern side of the North Branch of the Chicago River, said: "If that 30 minutes saved even a single life because of a quicker response time, isn't it worth having that station there?"

Not too big to ignore these dozens of pleas, the board on Monday reversed course and said yes.

"We'll have to ask staff to continue to monitor the call data in as transparent a manner as possible, so just wanted to make that clear as we're leaving a five-station footprint," said trustee Mike Jenny, who will become the unopposed board president when Patterson's term expires in April.

A perceived lack of transparency or "the opaqueness with which the decision was made," another Hager Lane resident said, was an issue for many of the callers. At least one stated he'd only heard about the potential closure from lawn signs promoting Saturday's rally.

Other callers wondered how the lack of the village's easternmost station might affect Avoca West Elementary School, even how it might affect insurance rates. They were skeptical about the effectiveness of partnership arrangements with other towns' departments.

Some just wanted to revisit the data. Others wished more firefighters had been involved in the decision.

A few people wondered what had changed between Station 13's 2004 opening, and now.

A Heatherfield Lane resident recalled a time before 2004, when she said it took an ambulance more than five minutes to arrive at her house. After the station was put in service, a fire call drew response within two minutes.

Response time from other Glenview stations, particularly by people who have either children or parents with health conditions, was the utmost concern.

The cumulative effect of these resident concerns changed minds.

"I think the first thing is to apologize. We did not do a good job at all in teeing this up. And residents who said to us for the last month that they didn't know about it and didn't feel we were transparent ... we did not do that on purpose, but we clearly did not do a good job," said trustee Debby Karton.

"I think the idea of maintaining the station," said trustee Chuck Gitles, "adding the ability to not just have ALS (Advanced Life Support unit) but also transport out of that station seems to me what we heard, with I believe unanimity tonight, from what the residents want."